In this case I introduced some more color and pattern with this vintage floral paisley square. I thought it gave a nice shock of color and being green with burgundy highlights blended well with the other elements of the ensemble.

And then for a little spin on things, lets keep the blue shirt but swap the navy suit for a brown suit to show just how far this tie, with the pink silver and ecru stripe can go.

With a square detail here:

Now, lets bring in the pink shirt which also works nicely with the brown suit. Swap the square out for, the parasol square in the brown tones and this is what you get, (with a High Res of the ensemble here). I liked the way this combo came out so much that had I not been lazy I would have used it as the tie shot on the site. (It did help that the flash was higher power and less yellow tones showed on the tie than yesterdays post).

When it comes to classic men’s clothing and other matters sartorial, Will Boehlke the author of A Suitable Wardrobe is a veritable wellspring of knowledge. About a month ago on StyleForum.net Will commented that pink and maroon naturally compliment each other. I don’t always agree with Will when it comes to color coordination but with pink and maroon, I think he’s got it right.

Here are some pictures that bear that thought out. (If you look at the high res shot you will see that the tie itself is a deep burgundy/maroon with stripes of pink (as well as gold) in it and is quite nice even before you put it with a shirt, suit and square.)

In the first shot we show the charcoal grey suit with pink shirt with floral square again and here enhanced with the burgundy tie. If you look at the tie you will see that its one with a different colored warp (or weft, I don’t remember which is which) and that accounts for the shimmering iridescence and the multi dimensional appearance of the tie.

Lead off is a series of ties that were really popular in the first run I had ever done, the wide chevron weave. Of course, as we went along I made significant changes in the construction that would overall increase the value of the ties, to wit, wool interlinings, self tipping, and bar tack closures. In the maiden run there were only two colors done but as we went along the reorder increased to 5 different colors.

If you have been following you will know that I am a fan of Blues with Pinks, and while the tie is nice enough in its own right being blue and pink, I think that the pink shirt adds some flavor to the ensemble as well.

Here is what the square looks like out of the pocket.

The red and white version (which was one of the two colors of the first run) is vibrant enough to wake up even a white shirt as I show it below.

For a little more vibrancy in the pocket square I brought this rainbow square in, but wanted to be careful that it shouldn’t be positioned so that it looks too matched with the tie, something that in general one should avoid. As the reds are not a proper match, the risk is less but still…

Which looks like this tucked in.

Of interesting and humorous note, when I first showed these ties (the red) to a couple of people, I got comments like “Cat in the Hat?” but they sold right out!

OK. Back and ready to go. Other than meeting one of the Colombo Cashmere Owners, Roberto Colombo, we were sadly dissapointed about the trip this time as the kids lines (which is what we go for for the most part) was uninspiring. I did order some really nice ties for the coming season as well as some new squares and some contrast border squares for somewhat immediate arrival.